The full text of a statement today from Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, head of the anti-terrorist branch at the Metropolitan Police, on an anti-terror raid in East London in which one man was shot:

This morning, shortly before 4am, the Metropolitan Police executed a search warrant at a house in Lansdown Road, Forest Gate, East London. The warrant had been issued for the search of those premises under the authority of the Terrorism Act 2000.

This operation was planned in response to specific intelligence. As always, our overriding concern is for the safety of the public. Because of the very specific nature of the intelligence, we planned an operation that was designed to mitigate any threat to the public either from firearms or from hazardous substances.

Some officers were armed, and others equipped with protective clothing. In planning the operation we worked closely with other agencies including the Security Service, the Health Protection Agency, the London Ambulance Service and Fire Brigade, and the London Borough of Newham.

You will appreciate that I am not in a position to discuss details of the intelligence with you. However, what I can tell you is that the intelligence was such that it demanded an intensive investigation and response.

The purpose of the investigation, after ensuring public safety, is to prove or disprove the intelligence that we have received. This is always difficult, and sometimes the only way to do so is to mount an operation such as that which we carried out this morning.

During the course of the operation, a 23-year-old man who was in the premises received a gunshot wound. The circumstances of this are being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, and it would therefore be inappropriate for me to make any further comment about this.

I can tell you that the injured man has been taken to the Royal London Hospital where he has received treatment. He has also been arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of Terrorism.

Another man, aged 20, who was in the premises at the time of the operation has also been arrested under the Terrorism Act, and is being held at Paddington Green Police Station.

The investigation, to prove or disprove the intelligence that prompted the operation, continues. As always this will be thorough, and one part of it will be a painstaking search of the premises in Landsdown Road. This has started, but may take some time, in all probability several days to complete.

Because of the fact that there are investigations being conducted both by the IPCC and ourselves, you will appreciate, I'm sure, that I am limited in the amount of detail I can give you, and that at this stage it would be inappropriate for me to answer questions.

We will give out further information as soon as we are able to do so, but I would like to reassure you that we are working very closely with the local community to offer reassurance and to ensure their continued safety.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Oh no, Mr Darling: you have failed
• BBC survives dogfight over Kennel Club expose
• Where the Rosetta belongs can’t be set in stone